Amaranth

The flower of the amaranth plant

Amaranth is a reddish-rose color that is a representation of the color of the flower of the amaranth plant. The color shown is the color of the red amaranth flower (the color normally considered amaranth), but there are other varieties of amaranth that have other colors of amaranth flowers; these colors are also shown below.

Amaranth

Amaranth
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#E52B50
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(229, 43, 80)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(348°, 81%, 90%)
Source		[1]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

The color amaranth is displayed at right. This color is also called amaranth red to distinguish it from the varying colors of other varieties of the amaranth flower.

The color amaranth is similar to printer's magenta (pigment magenta) (but redder). It is the color of the flower of those amaranth plants that have amaranth red colored flowers.

The first recorded use of amaranth as a color name in English was in 1690.^[1]

Etymology

The name amaranth comes from the Greek a (not) + marainean (to waste away), i.e., a flower believed to grow on Mount Olympus which never died.

Variations of amaranth

Amaranth pink

Amaranth Pink
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#F19CBB
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(241, 156, 187)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(345°, 47%, 92%)
Source		Maerz and Paul[2]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

The color amaranth pink is displayed at right. This color is a representation of the color of pink amaranth flowers.^[3]

The first recorded use of amaranth pink as a color name in English was in 1905.^[4]

Radical red (bright amaranth pink)

Radical Red
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#FF355E
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(255, 53, 94)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(345°, 84%, 84%)
Source		Crayola
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

The Crayola crayon color radical red is displayed at right.

The color radical red, which may also be called bright amaranth pink^{[citation needed]}, was formulated by Crayola in 1990.

Amaranth purple

Amaranth Purple
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#AB274F
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(171, 39, 79)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(285°, 37%, 44%)
Source		Maerz and Paul[5]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

The color amaranth purple is displayed at right. This color is a representation of the color of purple amaranth flowers.^[6]

The first recorded use of amaranth purple as a color name in English was in 1912.^[7]

Amaranth deep purple

Amaranth (M&P)
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#9F2B68
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(159, 43, 104)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(285°, 34%, 40%)
Source		Maerz and Paul[8]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

Amaranth deep purple is the tone of amaranth that is called amaranth in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color.

This color is a representation of the deep purple color of some amaranth flowers.^[9]

In popular culture

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Horticulture

• Amaranth flowers in their various colors are popular garden plants.

Literature

• Amaranth is the name of the otherworldly pantheon that amuses itself by toying with individuals' luck in Tim Lebbon's novella "The Unfortunate".
• In Garth Nix's novel Abhorsen, the third chapter is entitled "Amaranth, Rosemary and Tears".
• Love-Lies-Bleeding (a poetic name for the amaranth flower) is the title of a 2005 play by Don DeLillo.
• In Orson Scott Card's novel Speaker for the Dead, amaranth is the only grass in the limited ecosystem of the planet Lusitania.
• In the novel To Live Forever by Jack Vance, the members of the Amaranth Society have achieved immortality.

Music

• Amaranth is the title of a music CD by composer Robert Agis.
• In the AFI song, "The Great Disappointment", Davey Havok sings: "I can remember. I searched for the amaranth. I'd shut my eyes to see."
• The Swedish gothic/doom metal band Draconian has written a song titled "The Amaranth".
• Amarantine is the name of a 2005 album and single by Irish vocal artist Enya, and is mentioned in her song Flora's Secret wherein she sings: "Looking up through eyes of amaranthine."
• It is a song by Finnish symphonic/power metal band Nightwish, for their 2007 album Dark Passion Play.
• In the Animal Collective song, "Cuckoo Cuckoo," Avey Tare sings: "I can't see the landscape. Please describe its amaranthine haze."

Mythology

• In Greek mythology, Amaranthus was a hunter of the island of Euboea, a son of King Abas. He was loved by the goddess Artemis and joined her in the hunt. But he insulted Poseidon as worthless, claiming the bounty of the hunt was superior to that of the sea. For this the god sent a giant wave which washed him into the sea and drowned him. Artemis then turned him into an amaranth-flower, her sacred plant.

Poetry and literary symbolism

• The color amaranth represents immortality in Western culture because the name is derived from the name in Greek mythology of a flower that was believed to never die that grew in the abode of the Greek gods on Mount Olympus. Something that is perceived as everlasting may be described by the adjective amaranthine. (The color peach represents immortality in Chinese culture, because in Daoism the Goddess of the West is believed to guard the peach trees of immortality in the Tian Shan mountains.)
• Amaranth is the name of a long Sapphic poem by the imagiste poet H.D., and is based on Sappho's fragment 131.

Sports

• Italian football teams Livorno and Reggina have amaranth as their traditional home kit color.
• Noted British motorcycle designer, Edward Turner chose Amaranth red as the color for his revolutionary 1938 Triumph Speed Twin in memory of his late first wife's appreciation of its bloom. The model kept this color throughout its model run and initially upon re-design in 1959.

Video Games

• In the video game Final Fantasy IX, Amarant Coral is a character with red hair; he is also known as "Flaming Amarant", "Scarlet Hair", and "Red".

See also

• Amaranth (dye)
• Cerise (color)
• Crimson (color)
• List of colors
• Rose (color)
• Ruby (color)

References

1. ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930--McGraw Hill Page 189; Color Sample of Amaranth: Page 127 Plate 53 Color Sample L3 (Note: The color sample called Amaranth in A Dictionary of Color is not the Amaranth Red color shown above that is normally considered Amaranth today, but is the color shown above as Amaranth Deep Purple.)
2. ^ The color displayed in the color box above matches the color called amaranth pink in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill; the color amaranth pink is displayed on page 121, Plate 49, Color Sample D8.
3. ^ Picture of amaranth pink colored amaranth flowers (labeled as "pink"):
4. ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930--McGraw Hill Page 189; Color Sample of Amaranth Pink: Page 121 Plate 49 Color Sample D8
5. ^ The color displayed in the color box above matches the color called amaranth purple in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill; the color amaranth purple is displayed on page 129, Plate 53, Color Sample L3.
6. ^ [http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/speciesphoto/AMACRU.jpg&imgrefurl=http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/Searchcolors.asp%3Fcolor%3DB%26LIM%3D0%26sortop%3DTaxa&h=102&w=102&sz=3&hl=en&start=16&tbnid=Gzu8akV9TW2sQM:&tbnh=83&tbnw=83&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522Amaranth%2BPurple%2522%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG Picture of amaranth purple colored amaranth flowers:]
7. ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930--McGraw Hill Page 189; Color Sample of Amaranth Purple: Page 129 Plate 53 Color Sample L3
8. ^ The color displayed in the color box above matches the color called amaranth in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill; the color amaranth is displayed on page 111, Plate 44, Color Sample L8.
9. ^ Picture of amaranth deep purple colored amaranth flowers:

External links

• Web page showing the various colors of amaranth flowers:
• [2] Picture of purple amaranth flower
• Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium: Amaranthus cruentus L.:
• Picture of a deep purple amaranth flower: